Read More

Mr Smyth said: “Yes, there are a lot more demands in the office now to bring in cakes than there used to be - I can’t get away with the Victoria sponge any more either. People are expecting three-tier towers and things.”

“You’re a marked man now!” said the Duke.

Asked how he found time to do his baking, Mr Smyth said he was only working four days a week, giving him extra time for baking and pursuing other projects.

Prince William gave his backing to Andrew Smyth (Photo: Getty)

As he showed the Duke his cake, the Duke said: “I was wondering if this was actually a cake…”

Shown the rotating gingerbread blades, William said: “Ah, you should have won! What’s going on - that’s amazing.

"I’m going to have a word with Mary. You should have won.

“The problem is when you make something as good as this you don’t want to eat it!”

Read More

Mr Smyth had made a smaller version of the cake for the Duke to take home with him. He said the main cake would be shared by some of the Rolls-Royce staff.

William also met apprentices on the shop floor and one of them, Megan Dennison, 21, presented him with Rolls-Royce branded polo shirts, a blue one with George embroidered on it and a white one with Charlotte on it.

He was also given a souvenir of a polished fan blade from a Gnome engine, used in Sea King helicopters that the Duke flew when he was an RAF Search and Rescue pilot.

Mary Berry (Photo: BBC)

Earlier, he had been shown around the production line that makes the latest Trent XWB airline engine by Colin Smith, group president of Rolls-Royce.

Mr Smith said: “He was particularly interested in the technology side, in how we continually improve the engines and the noise benefits and the fuel burn benefits that that gives.”